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Friday, 27 April 2012

Long time readers of this blog will know how much I adore Don't Rest Your Head. Running that game taught me to be a better GM. Running that game allowed me to explore a genre I don't watch or read. Running that game inspired me to write my own game. Imagine my delight when Don't Read This Book was announced. Imagine my extra delight this week to see that the pre-orders were open!

And then imagine my dismay when the $15 book became a $52 with postage fees to Perth.

After a brief twitter exchange with @fredhicks I slumped my shoulders and resigned myself to wait for the e-book editions to be made available. I didn't have to wait long.

@fredhicks: Given crazy high international shipping, I don't want to make folks abroad wait, so: Don't Read This Book, all digital: http://ow.ly/avBGq

Yes yes and yes! Now I have it through DriveThruRPG and am losing sleep reading it. Oh the irony!

And because I like books as artefacts, I'm going to get it in print too as soon as the postage drops. High praise to Fred for accelerating the availability of the e-books.

Tuesday, 24 April 2012

I backed this project. Kickstarter gets a lot of attention but all those projects are spreading my cash thin! I've become a little selective to be able to afford it, but have definitely put some weight behind this one.

The project is about adding ethnic diversity to the art associated with fantasy RPGs. The genre derives from the culture that told the stories, so things were understandably skewed in that direction in the past. Today's a different matter, though, and I think we should open our minds to how we tell fantasy stories and who we tell those stories about.

Sunday, 22 April 2012

I have a new gaming group (yes, that's all I've blogged about recently) and I asked them what they might like to play after we've run the course of the current campaign. A couple of people seem quite keen on playing something in the Star Wars universe. And why not? It's an evocative setting and reasonably well known.

It made me think about all the different kinds of ways to play in that universe. Some initial thoughts:

FATE (Spirit of the Century style): Lots of Jedi and Rebellion missions. Could be used for any period in the saga.

Don't Rest Your Head: Geared around a fall into the dark side of the force. This could be a simple re-skin, but I wonder what to substitute for Fight and Flight responses.

My Life With Master: All players are Sith who will rise up, like Vader, and kill the Master.

Poison'd: Another Sith game, except this is after the Master has died.

Dogs in the Vineyard: Done, done and done. There are plenty of rules out there for this hack.

Agon: Mission based Jedi stories. This doesn't leave much space for dark side temptation, except perhaps exchange Divine Favour for the Dark Side and when it's all consumed, one point becomes permanent. When all points are permanent, a Jedi they ain't.

Apocalypse World: Nuh-uh. Not touching this. That's way too much work for me right now.

3:16: Great idea for a Clonetrooper or Stormtrooper campaign. Not much reskinning required.

A Penny For My Thoughts: How did you fall into the dark side of the force?

What about you? Which game would you use for a Star Wars story, and what kind of story would it tell?

Saturday, 14 April 2012

After the last session, and before tonight's session, I've written up some revised beliefs for Lamara. They're not quite refined yet, but I'm struggling a bit with the campaign situation.

Rich city folk are soft and undeserving of their comforts. I will restore the balance by emptying their treasure chests in the streets.

Nature rewards the strong. I will lead this group of adventurers by proving myself the strongest and most cunning.

The only defeat is total defeat. I will crush my enemies and will not accept defeat while there is strength in my limbs.

I'm tempted to change the second one into a belief about the paladin, Sir Boaz. Even though he's a strong warrior (as seen in the last session), I think Lamara still looks down on him for hiding behind the trappings of knighthood. Maybe I should just rewrite it as:

Sir Boaz is a powerful fighter but is limited by his rank. I will free him from this bondage so that he can be a true warrior.

That ought to drive a nice wedge into the party, in the nicest possible way, and get Sir Boaz to fight for his god rather than his king.